Cat 5 vs Cat 6 cables

What is Cat 5

• Cat 5, commonly referred to as Category 5 cable, it is broken into two separate categories: Cat 5 and Cat 5e cables.
• Cat 5 has become obsolete in recent years, due to its limitations compared to Cat 5e and Cat 6 cables.

Cat 5e

• Cat 5e cable (which stands for “Cat 5 enhanced”) became the standard cable about 15 years ago and offers significantly improved performance over the old Cat 5 cable.

Cat 5 vs Cat 5e

	Cat 5	Cat 5e
Cat 5 and Cat 5e cables
Speed	10 BASE-T, 100 BASE-T (Fast Ethernet).	10 BASE-T, 100 BASE-T (Fast Ethernet), 1000 BASE-T (Gigabit Ethernet).
Frequency	Upto 100 MHz.	Upto 250 MHz.
Data performance	10-100 Mbps.	100-1000 Mbps.
Max cable length	100 Meters.	100 Meters.
Price	Low.	High.

What is Cat 6

• Cat 6, commonly referred to as Category 6 cable, is a standardized twisted pair cable for Ethernet and other network physical layers that is backward compatible with the Category 5/5e.

Cat 5e vs Cat 6

	Cat 5e	Cat 6
Cat 5e and Cat 6 cables
Speed	10 BASE-T, 100 BASE-T (Fast Ethernet), 1000 BASE-T (Gigabit Ethernet).	10 BASE-T, 100 BASE-T (Fast Ethernet), 1000 BASE-T (Gigabit Ethernet), 10 G BASE-T (10-Gigabit Ethernet).
Frequency	100 MHz.	250 MHz.
Data performance	100-1000 Mbps.	1-10 Gbps.
Max cable length	100 Meters.	100 Meters.
Price	Low.	High.